Teaching Active and Passive Verbs in Context

Sections

Active and Passive Verbs Introduction

This resource is designed to enhance the teaching of grammar in the context of reading and writing by using mentor sentences. In this resource, mentor sentences, or sentences that highlight a grammatical point, were chosen primarily from published writing that likely will be familiar to students. Teachers also can write mentor sentences or select sentences from student writing. The purpose is to show students how to notice grammatical points when reading and apply this knowledge to their own writing.

We encourage you to approach grammar instruction through real-world examples and to instill a sense of discovery and empowerment in your students. Teach students to think about the purpose of grammatical points and their effect on the reader and demonstrate how to make purposeful choices to improve writing.

This resource uses original content from the Texas Adolescent Literacy Academies: Focus on Writing (TALA Writing) professional development. Any handout numbers in this resource refer to the original TALA Writing handouts.

See Documents in Related Items below to download Handout 14 and the Verbs, Active and Passive Handout and Wall Chart. You are encouraged to print the Verbs, Active and Passive Handout and complete the activities as presented in the videos. The wall chart is for teacher reference only and is not intended as a student handout. Handout 14 provides additional information about instructional practices for teaching written conventions in context.

This resource is based on the Invitational Grammar and Editing Process described in Everyday Editing (Stenhouse, 2007) by Jeff Anderson.